Photos: L.A. Dingbats

If you think “dingbat” is just a cruel nickname for Edith Bunker, then you obviously do not live in Los Angeles. Here, the dingbat is a small, two-story multi-unit apartment building with parking in front underneath the elevated building.

They are widely disparaged as cheap stucco boxes, which is somewhat accurate. But they are also cool and kitschy, with lots of unnecessary, mid-century ornamentation on the front of the buildings.

Thousands of dingbats have withstood earthquakes and the test of time and have dotted landscape since they were constructed in the 1950s and 1960s. Here is a sampling of these underrated buildings: